The present invention relates to the handling of documents and in particular the movement of bound documents between stations.
With the advent of the Internet has come the opportunity for the print media industry to publish xe2x80x9con-linexe2x80x9d rather than producing and distributing traditional paper based publications. On-line publishing has a number of advantages. From the consumer""s point of view, information is available on demand, information can be navigated via hypertext links, information can be searched, and information can be automatically personalized. From the publisher""s point of view, the costs of printing and physical distribution are eliminated and the publication becomes more attractive to advertisers as it can be targeted to specific demographics and linked to product sites.
On-line publication also has disadvantages. Computer screens are inferior to paper. At the same quality as a magazine page, a SVGA computer screen displays only about a fifth as much information. Both CRT""s (Cathode Ray Tubes) and LCD""s (Liquid Crystal Displays) have brightness and contrast problems, particularly, when ambient light is strong. Ink on paper, being reflective rather than emissive is both bright and sharp in ambient light. Accordingly, people have a natural preference to read newspapers, magazines, catalogues, brochures and other publications in a bound paper based format.
Printers that incorporate a binding means may be connected to the Internet and conveniently used for the on-line publication of the bound documents. Ideally, any regularly received periodical publications would be automatically printed, bound and awaiting collection at the subscriber""s convenience. However, if a number of periodicals are automatically printed while the subscriber is out or otherwise unable to clear the document collection station, the documents already awaiting collection may impede the transfer of further documents to the collection station and thereby delay other printing operations.
It is an object of the present invention to provide means to effectively transfer printed documents from one station to another. Accordingly, the present invention provides a document transfer device for transferring documents to a collection station, the transfer device including:
means for selectively moving a document to the collection station; and
guide means to prevent documents being transferred from being hampered by contact with any documents already in the collection station.
Preferably, the transfer device is incorporated into a printer with integral document binding means to transfer documents from the binding means to the collection station.
In some forms of the present invention, the means for selectively moving a document is at least partially defined by a base member for supporting documents, the base member being movable to selectively remove support for the document to allow it to transfer to the collection station. Conveniently, the bound document may transfer to the collection station under the action of gravity.
In one particularly preferred form, the base member is a hinged exit hatch, hingedly mounted opposite a flexible foil, the hatch adapted to selectively rotate about its hinge such it becomes a document chute which is configured to cooperate with the flexible foil to prevent documents being transferred from being hampered by contact with any documents already in the collection station.
In some embodiments the transfer means further includes a plurality of flexible foils having different lengths to accommodate different sized bound documents.
Preferably the transfer device has a sensor means for sensing when there is no more capacity in the collection station in order to suspend further printing until the collection station is able to receive another bound document. In a further preferred form, the transfer device has a tamper sensor to detect document jams or other interference acting to prevent the exit hatch from returning to a document support position.
Embodiments of the invention that have been incorporated into a printer are preferably adapted to print the full width of the page simultaneously.
It will be appreciated that by providing a document transfer device in accordance with the present invention, documents can transferred to a collection station with little risk of disruptions from interference with documents in the collection station awaiting collection. With the aid of modem printers and computer network technology, the invention has many applications in on-line publication of newspapers, magazines, brochures and so on. The present invention will be described with particular reference to the Applicant""s netpage system. An overview of this system is set out below. It has been developed to allow a large number of distributed users to interact with networked information via printed matter and optical sensors thereby to obtain interactive printed matter on demand from high-speed networked color printers.
For this purpose, the Applicant has developed a range of netpage printers. Of these, the wallprinter is designed to be wall mounted in the area where the user would normally first consume the morning news such as in the kitchen or beside the breakfast table. In light of this, it is expected that the wallprinter will be one of the most widely used of the netpage printers and therefore it will be described in detail below to illustrate one specific embodiment of the invention. However, it will be appreciated that this is merely one example of the invention, which may be embodied in many other forms.